Literacy, Science and the Studio at La Scuola

As Ashley wrote in our last post, on April 24th we joined the faculty of La Scuola in Miami at their soon to be new campus. Their buildings are being renovated and prepared for their move on the first of June.  Miguel Perez, the husband of director and founder, Barbie Perez, worked long, extra hours to make sure that one room would be ready for us to meet for a professional development day for teachers.  All of the teachers wanted to meet at this dream campus that will soon be their new home. We have worked with La Scuola for at least ten years. Barbie discovered us when we were in our St. Louis schools and traveled by car three times with teachers to attend conferences that we hosted.  We have visited them for a day in April for the last four years on our way back from a family vacation of the west coast of Florida.

Every year, their work becomes more exciting and more beautiful.  The teachers work especially hard to be co-researchers with their students as they embark on the exploration of a school wide question every year.

During the 2016-2017 school year, all the grades have focused on the question: What is migration? During the morning, three teachers presented their work and we all engaged in the protocol that Ashley reflected on in this post, to learn from and honor the teachers' and the students’ work.

The work of the first, second, third and fourth/fifth grade is featured in this blog post. The teachers and administration are clear about the literacy and science standards that their students are meeting and surpassing. The teachers also know that first hand experience with topics in field studies, authentic motivation and the desire to research, observational drawing as part of all their work, and preparing work for a pubic audience makes learning meaningful and lasting.

Each grade is working on a book about their research to inform and engage their community: the first and second grade will publish a set if cards about butterfly life, habitats and migration; the third graders are working on a book about their study of sea turtles; and the fourth/fifth grade have created media and media connections including an instragram feed, @lascuolabirders, about their ongoing study of birds in their region.  They also produced a "How To" video about how to attract birds by making suet cakes.  It is a high quality video! Take a peek.

We feel honored to work with La Scuola and thrilled to work with all of the teams of teachers with whom we work in schools where children and teachers are engaged in deep, meaningful learning, contributing to their communities, and learning to be stewards of the ecosystems where they live.

Sun Sets on a School Year, and Plans Blossom for Next Year

The lead photo was taken yesterday (April 29) from our west yard in Middlebury, Vermont.  The sunset is background for the new spring leaves and blossoms of a maple tree (that we planted 37 years ago).  The image struck me as a metaphor for this point in the cycle of a school year.

Louise and I just returned from another wonderful day of reflection and projection with Barbie Perez and her fabulous faculty at La Scuola in Miami.  The sun is setting on their most creative and productive school year, while new ideas for next year are blossoming.  ’Tis a tremendously creative time.

Speaking of TIME, taking the time at this point in the year, typically all consumed with “wrapping up,” to pause and reflect is ALWAYS reaffirming and generative.  Barbie is a wise leader, in that every year about this time, she sets aside a whole day to do just that.

During the morning of our day together, three teachers shared different but related projects that they had been guiding/following/developing throughout the year all based on the big question: What is migration?

One class discovered and researched sea turtles, another butterflies, and the third, birds…all in the neighborhood of the school.  The webs of learning experiences were extensive and portrayed the students’ deep and lasting understanding of concepts, content and skills (both congnitive and 21st C, e.g., empathy, multiple perspectives, ecoliteracy)…each with an authentic contribution to the community of the school and to Miami: a book about sea turtles advocating for protection and beach cleanup (given to Turtle Hospital for their student tours), a book and a play about butterflies and butterfly/pollinator gardens, and a collection of instagram videos about indigenous birds and necessary habitats…all three featuring detailed observational drawings, painting, clay sculptures, and carefully edited writing.

At some time in the future, these publications will be available for you all to have, by request…stay tuned.

We reflected on each presentation following a protocol: 1. share what you notice and value about what you’ve heard 2. share what you wonder about, what questions do you have (and those were collected…not immediately answered by the presenter) 3. the presenter responds to questions and then

4. discussion evolves into everyone’s takeaways…in what ways will this effect/inform MY work.  Everyone thinks together about possibilities, ideas, suggestions and implications for teaching and learning.

Following this protocol is frequently challenging, certainly for first timers, because we are so used to mixing up all three components into a mosh pit of superficial excitement, stepping on what each other is saying, and NOT REALLY LISTENING.  This protocol encourages deep listening, and, therefore, deep thinking.

Here’s a sampling of notes I took in the “notice and value” parts of each: Your writing assignments were so pertinent and provocative and meaningful to the students.Your learning adventures…I call them that because they were MORE than field trips…they were purposeful…part of their RESEARCH.Your research involved REAL issues…the injury of sea turtles…pollination.Loved the idea of the students telling a story about their traumatic experience and recovery.The students have become environmental stewards.Your reflections in your “Daily” [a daily newsletter blog post] was inspirational to follow.Your passion for the subject was obviously contagious and fully transferred to the students.They overcame all “fears of the outdoors”…like it or not, they’re bug lovers forever.Their retention of facts was remarkable…and, I’m sure, stemmed from their genuine interest and passion for the research.You let them wonder, and you valued their theories…so they felt free to share their thinking and to think critically together.You collaborated with other teachers, from other classes and other disciplines, especially the atelierista…so the resulting work is much richer and more beautiful.The students obviously worked hard, many drafts, and took great pride in their work.You pulled off an amazing “aikido” move…instead of resisting the ubiquitous presence of student phones, you captured their interest and energy using instagram and video.

In the wondering and projection discussions several teachers quoted the children: You know, we are teaching each other.  We are teaching you about turtles…and you are teaching us about art materials.The turtles are looking to find their friends again.When I showed the one year old the caterpillar, he said “butterfly.”  He taught ME something.  The babies have become friends.We discovered things together.If we plant these gardens [for pollinators] we can help the world.

It’s probably easy to imagine from tone and content of these reflections, that the energy that flowed into the afternoon for the “projection into 2017-2018” planning was considerable, positive, inventive, all building on the past experiences.

La Scuola is moving to a new-to-them campus, renovating an older school on an Episcopal church site at 7412 Sunset Drive.  Every window looks out on three acres of green.  They move in June 1st.  It’s all beyond exciting, because this little engine that could has finally found the ideal home.  Not surprisingly, the questions the faculty resolved to follow were: Who else lives here?    How are they connected to us…and we to them?    How can we conserve this place and make it better? Welcome HOME La Scuola.  May your sense of place become ever more profound.

To me, you are like these renegade daffodils in our orchard...blossoming in a new field of green.

I Used to Think...But Now I Think...

This has been a good month for teaching and learning.  Among other things, I have been the instructor for a Lesley University class, EDUCC 5300...Environments and Materials in Reggio Inspired Teaching and Learning. Nine students are enrolled in a class that meets for two intensive, packed weekends a month apart with on line assignments each week for eight weeks. The class culminates with a reflective final paper focused on curriculum or space design.  The students are graduate or undergraduate students or teachers who are seeking professional development.

We have used Vea Vecchi's Art and Creativity in Reggio Emilia as the core text supplemented by other reading and on line resources.  One of the highlights of our days was a visit to Buckingham Browne & Nichols Lower School where we toured the school and met with teachers of the youngest children. Being in a developed environment that exemplifies much of what the course focuses on is a critical experience for the students in this class.  They are able to see and touch and feel exemplary Reggio inspired classrooms.

Last Sunday, the students presented their final projects in progress and we all were involved in a peer review in support of each student...What do we notice and value about their work and their focus? What questions do we have? What ideas and associations are we making? What help could we offer?  This protocol or structured conversation is adapted but based on one I learned with Steve Seidel at the Arts and Passion Driven Learning Institute last summer.

Listening to students and responding and evolving ideas together is the heart of dialogue.  This is my favorite part of the class.  I see everyone come alive as each person knows that they are the central presenter and that others are there to support them in a critical and helpful way.  One of the resources we used in the class is the Expeditionary Learning website and their extraordinary collection of exemplary student work.  We watched Ron Berger lead a peer critique of a first grader's work that is such a worthwhile five minute piece.  If you have not seen it, please take a few minutes and watch it now.

This focus on exemplary work and also on peer review, critique and support sets the stage for a rich and productive time together when the students in the class present their work and listen to peers.

Another favorite part of the class for me comes from another prompt that I learned from Steve Seidel and at the Harvard Institutes.  They often conclude an institute or learning experience with this fill in the blank sentence...I used the think...but now I think.  Carlina Rinaldi says that to learn is to change.  This prompt captures the essence of that idea.

Here are three comments from students in response to this prompt that continue to inspire me.  I hope to keep in touch with students and see where they go and what happens next.

I used to think relationships with environments and materials weren't central to learning, but now I think that forming relationships with environments and materials is how children learn.  Amanda McBride

I used to think...of space as one sided and singular but now I think...of space as communal, purposeful, inspiring, and multifaceted. Taylor Crowley

I used to think that proof of learning in school could be demonstrated by a finished product. I now think that there is no endpoint to learning in school and that subject matter spirals endlessly.  If a child can come away from a topic of inquiry with a sense of expansiveness; a subtle or even unconscious awareness that knowing is not possible outside of the context of ever-widening circles of further knowing, then I believe she has been fledged as a life-long learner.  This is my role as a teacher; to provide the space for a child to experience that.Jean Meister

All are Welcome: Anti-Bias Curriculum in Today's World

Earlier this month we attended an evening presentation by Debbie Leekeenan on Anti-Bias Education.  This event was part of a series of professional development opportunities offered every year by the Boston Area Reggio Inspired Network (BARIN).  Debbie is a leader in the field of Anti-Bias Education and had written most recently, with John Nimmo and Louise Derman-Sparks, Leading Anti Bias Early Education Programs.   The evening provided a place for all of us to consider what it means to create schools and environments where every single person is honored, welcomed and a part of the whole.  We listened to Debbie share her varied and rich experiences and perspectives and we worked with challenging scenarios in small groups.

An anti-bias program puts diversity and equity goals at the center of all aspects of its organization and daily life. Systemic change requires a leader who takes an intentional and strategic approach. 

In today's world, post election, where groups are being targeted and the world feels more volatile and scary for many, this message and these ways of being with children and families are more important than ever.  Debbie shared this pledge written and distributed by the Child Care Exchange which you can download here.

ANTI-BIAS EDUCATION

EXCHANGE MARCH/APRIL 2017

www.ChildCareExchange.com

All Children Belong Here This is Our Promise to You

•We will build an open, safe, and mutually respectful school community in which each child and each family is an important and equal member.

•We will never allow differences of any kind to be an excuse to make fun of, exclude, or hurt you.

•We will listen carefully and lovingly to what worries you and give you thoughtful, age-appropriate information and support.

•We will nurture you to feel strong and proud about yourself and your family.

•We will facilitate your skills to be friends with classmates who are alike and different from you.

•We will honor your family’s importance to you by building respectful partnerships with them.

•We will provide support to you and your family when they feel stress, anxiety, or fear because of current events or acts of prejudice or hate.

•We will learn about and help your family use legal and community resources to keep you safe.

•We will work to uproot our own personal biases as adults and will speak out against prejudice and bias wherever we encounter it.

•We will mobilize our courage and become active with others to resist and change any policies and practices that threaten to hurt you or your family.

Debbie concluded the evening with these words which we read often and hold dear:

We are all in this together — working for a world where every child is protected and honored, exactly as they are.  We have the responsibility and the opportunity to be proactive in how we support our children and families during these challenging times. Take the long view. Be optimistic. Model resiliency. We need to hold the light.

*images and student work from Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA.

Reflections on Aesthetics

The publication, Innovationsis celebrating a birthday...or anniversary.  Many of us have been fortunate enough to read issues of Innovations for 25 years…since 1992.  The articles published inspire and inform us about the innovative, creative work with young children and educators in Reggio Emilia and in North America. Thank you to the editors and the board and all the contributors for their enormous dedication and commitment to this publication.

I was recently asked to reflect on an issue of Innovations published in the fall of 2012 that focuses on the atelier and the hundred languages of children. It includes a lead article by Vea Vecchi from Reggio, a reflection by Judy Graves on hosting the “Wonder of Learning” exhibit in Portland, Oregon, and a description of a project by Barbara Pratt Moser, atelierista from Pittsburgh.  (In my reflections I used some of my thoughts and connections from previous blog posts and I am including them here as well.)

When I read all of these articles I think of the central themes that form the foundation for the work of the atelier and the idea of the 100 languages of children and of human beings.  One theme is what Vea calls poetics and aesthetics.  She often quotes Gregory Bateson who defines aesthetics as “the pattern that connects.”  Rather than being something pretty or pleasing, even though it might include those things, aesthetics points to the fabric of life that holds the world together…the unseen, the seen, the in-betweens, the visible and invisible, the emotions, the sense we make of things, what we are naturally drawn to as humans, and the great mystery of the universe that we inhabit.

The idea that knowledge without emotion and imagination is incomplete, dry and actually not fully true, is a powerful idea.  The pattern that connects must not be disregarded.  The stories of Judy Graves and Barbara Pratt Moser illustrate and reiterate this idea.

Vea was scheduled to come to St. Louis for a conference on the Atelier in the fall of 2001.  She wrote to us that she felt she could not come after the events of 9/11, being a non-English speaker in an uncertain world.  She said that one of her strong beliefs is that engagement in poetics and aesthetics is the antidote to both violence and indifference and that we needed to put all our work into the hope of what the atelier has to offer to children and to all of us.

Vea gave a TEDx talk in Reggio Emilia, Italy in October of 2011.  I quote Vea here as her words and ideas strongly connect to the themes of the articles in this issue of Innovations.  These words seem particularly relevant and meaningful in our world right now.

The atelier (or studio that is not only a central place but also a way of working throughout our schools) has brought many materials and techniques, but also has illuminated a need, not only for children, but for human beings to communicate in a way that rationality and imagination travel together.  We believe in a multiplicity of languages that are integrated and not separated.  We believe that this makes learning and understanding more rich and more complete.  Poetic thought does not separate the imaginative from the cognitive, emotion from the rational, empathy from deep investigation.  It lights up all the senses and perceptions and cultivates an intense relationship with what is all around us.  It constructs thoughts that are not conformist.  And this creates two important elements: solidarity and participation, both of which are the foundation of democracy. To conclude, we believe that identifying and researching beauty and ethics is the indispensable foundation for a livable, sustainable future that everyone speaks about but that seems so difficult to bring about.  It is only with an intelligent heart, with courage and with vision that we can proceed.